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Portable and handheld ultrasound scanners are all in the limelight due to their growing popularity among doctors, medical practitioners, several medical units, and even the common folk. The reason behind this is very simple. These babies cost only a small fragment of the traditional ultrasound scanning machines. Additionally, these are very portable and one can slip it right into the pocket and head off. The best part is that the comparatively high affordability and portability comes without any compromise on the quality of the sonograms. In fact, in some cases the quality of the sonograms of these pocket sized ultrasound scanners has been found better than that of the traditional machines.

There is a soaring demand of these scanners in the market. A lot of companies have seen a great potential in this sector and they hopped into the business. However, you would want to purchase a portable ultrasound scanner which is high in quality and provides clear and sharp sonogram images, along with accurate measures of blood pressure, heart rate, etc. Check this site out to have a better understanding to find out the best handheld ultrasound scanner.

There are many manufacturers who claim their handheld scanners to be the best. It is easy for the buyers to get confused in a highly competitive market. This technology is not old enough to get any constructive or highly trustworthy reviews, which make it even harder for the customer to make a choice. The basic solution is to look for the features and the warranty of the product as one of the parameters. The wireless ultrasound scanners by Anti-aging Health have an 18 month warranty which is worth consideration. They also offer many variants of these scanners and you can choose according to your needs.

I’m just back from a great (and chilly) trip to Utah. Even though I ran into some snowy conditions and had to change some of my plans, I had an awesome time and got some great photos. I am excited to share these with you over the next several weeks.

Today’s photo comes from the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Kanab, Utah which was the first stop on my trip. I stumbled across this place online during my research and decided to stop on my way to Bryce. It was incredible watching the sand turn from a dull yellow to a golden orange, fiery red and becoming a soft pink during the last light after sunset. If you are ever in the area of Kanab, this place is definitely worth a visit!

This particular shot was taken about 30 minutes before the sun set behind the distant mountains. The intense rays of the sun painted the dunes this brilliant orange color which contrasted perfectly with the beautiful blue sky overhead. This is one of the very few times that I had hoped for a blue sky sunset and I was fortunate enough to get what I was looking for!

So after months of research and planning I am finally on the road to Utah today. The plan is to be on the road by 3am today and make it to Lake Powell around sunrise before crossing over into Utah. I have a full 5 days of shooting before I make my way back home on Monday so I will not be able to update my blog during that time. You can however follow me and Google+ and Facebook where I will be posting updates whenever chance and signal allow. Hope you have a great week and I will see you soon!

I figured that it only made sense to check out Bryce Canyon on the way to Escalante. I had seen a few pictures of the place and I wasn’t all that excited but I thought I’d have a look anyway. When I got there however, I was completely blown away. It was about 8º when I got there about an hour before sunrise. Even in the pre dawn light, I was completed awed by the endless spires which have been carved by mother nature over untold years. As the sun climbed over the horizon and shone the first of it’s light down in the valley, I felt like I was witnessing something truly magical.

This is a HDR Panorama made up of 42 Exposures. Please click on the photo to view it in a lightbox.

Here’s another shot from the Coral Pink Sand Dunes in Southern Utah. I had the foresight when I was hiking to make sure that I didn’t disturb the sand in the areas where in which I would want to shoot. Shortly after the sun set behind the mountains, the last light of the day began to paint the sand a delicate shade of coral for which the dunes were named. I turned to look in the direction I came from and saw this. You can see both my footprints heading into the dunes as well as the ones returning in this shot. Click on the image to view it in the lightbox.

id you all have a great Thanksgiving weekend? I had the opportunity to attend a ropes course to continue building skills which I am looking forward to putting to use so we spent some time camping in the Sedona area. The weather was pretty chilly but it was a great time. I can’t wait for the snow to start falling in Sedona!

Today’s image comes from Arches National Park. Delicate Arch is one of the most photographed places in the park. The hike up, while not technically difficult, is rather strenuous due to the elevation gain but once you get to the top, the sight is quite impressive. It was an overcast day that threatened rain at every turn but delivered little more than the occasional spray. I decided to use the sepia tones in this image to bring out the dramatic sky. Please feel free to leave your thoughts and feedback!

Downward

Have I mentioned how much I loved shooting at Bryce? I really wasn’t sure what to expect but now I wish I had spent more time. Kristi and I plan to visit both Bryce and Zion National Parks between Christmas and New Year next month. I’m hoping for some nice snow to contrast with these beautiful orange colors.

I took this photo on one of the trails that lead down through the spires. It was only a three mile loop that was a lot more fun going down then coming back up. I loved this little section of switchbacks leading downward.

Topaz Adjust 5

I just downloaded and installed the latest version of Topaz Adjust the other day and I thought I’d take a moment to share my thoughts with you. I use Topaz Adjust in my workflow about 40% – 50% of the time for everything from adding detail & texture in an image to creating unique effects.

The biggest inconvenience I had before update of Adjust 5 was that the overall effects of the filters were usually a bit too strong to be used by themselves. I therefore would copy the before image into Photoshop and use a layer mask to mask in the desired effect. I am so used to using layer masks in Photoshop that this doesn’t bother me, but it could create some issues if you do not use Photoshop in your workflow.

The folks over at Topaz Labs did a great job adding in plenty of new features to Adjust 5 which make adding subtle or local adjustments to your images a piece of cake!

Topaz Adjust works as a plug-in for Photoshop, Lightroom, Aperture & iPhoto. Simply select the desired image in your preferred program and launch the program. You’ll notice a categorized list of presets on the left – simply play around with the different ones until you find one that looks good for your image.

Once you’ve selected one of the presets from the left, you can go to the “Finishing Touches” bar on the right and adjust the overall transparency of the effect. You can also use the “Global Adjustment” tab to fine tune the effect to your liking.

One of the best additions to Adjust 5 is the ability to brush out the effect in places that you don’t want it. Use the “Local Adjustments” tab to do this as well as Dodge, Burn and Smooth the image locally.

Today I thought I’d take a little break from the Watson Lake images. Don’t worry, I have many more images which I will be posting in the near future as well. Today’s image is from The Valley of Fire State Park. I found this rock formation particularly interesting. I can picture the cave on the left being the den of some large troll and the little holes on the right belonging to a swarm of smaller insect light creatures. Use your imagination – what does it remind you of?

This is another shot I took not long after sunrise. As many of the photographers that read my blog will know, the light around sunrise and sunset is really the best for outdoor photography. This particularly holds true for landscape shots with one addition – it’s important to have interesting clouds as well. It doesn’t matter how wonderful the light or how interesting the landcape is – without clouds or some kind of interesting backdrop, the images are just going to look rather boring. One suggestion I have if you found yourself faced with a clear blue sky is to do your best to include some element of red/orange in your image. The contrast between extreme warm and cool can often yield some interesting results.

For better health, longer life, variety in the diet, etc. Some Random Ideas to get your bird to eat veggies or fruits. One way to get your bird to eat fruits and vegetables is to offer them as treats. If you regularly hand-feed your bird, start giving him bite-size pieces of fruits and vegetables.